Tourists are silly

Carvings on one of the temples.
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Shoot, I lost another entry! I'll type it quickly again. And I'll type it outside of the browser and safe often. Ctrl-S.

I found some Taiwanese tourists! They were taking all these glamour shots around the temple. Imagine ancient Tomb Raider-like temples and statues and lots of jungle growing everywhere. And then there are these Taiwanese tourists doing cutesy and/or seductive and/or glamorous poses. The photographers were also very vocal about shouting out posing directions. Quite a silly site.

I don’t know if the girl meant that Mark should send postcards to me, who they thought was his wife, or if Mark should send postcards to his wife at home while he was vacationing with me, his girlfriend.

Do I look Korean? Japanese? Chinese?
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For some reason, I only saw Koreans in the morning and Taiwanese people in the afternoon. Is this done on purpose? Korean tourists + Taiwanese tourists = ??

We had a disappointing sunset. The sky was grey with only one strip of color. Boo. Also, went to this temple on top of a mountain called Phnom Bakeng for the sunset. Everyone goes there. I figured everyone goes there because it’s a great sight. And for some reason, I thought that you could see Angkor Wat from this place. It’s a nice view of the surrounding area, but no view of Angkor Wat. So we hurried back down to Angkor Wat to see if we could get some more Cambodian and less generic sunset views. But then we realized the sky would be pretty disappointing. We’re going to get up to leave at 4:30 am to catch the sunrise. Maybe the sky will be more cooperative.

Does Mark look like a sucker to you? There are all these kids surrounding the temples who try to sell stuff to you – water, postcards, bracelets, guidebooks. They pretty aggressively stick to you to try to convince you to buy stuff from them. And their English is pretty good, I’m impressed. One especially interesting comment: “You can buy postcards to send to your wife.” This line was delivered while I was sitting right there. Ctrl-S. I don’t know if the girl meant that Mark should send postcards to me, who they thought was his wife, or if Mark should send postcards to his wife at home while he was vacationing with me, his girlfriend. The latter explanation actually makes more sense, because why would he send postcards to me when I’m right there?

Back to the issue of whether Mark is a sucker. The kids usually surround us as we exit the different temples. We come out together, but as they surround us, it’s easier to walk if we veer off in separate directions. When Mark and I separate, the kids all stick with Mark! I laugh every time. Do they think he’s more likely to buy stuff? Cause of how he responds to their inquiries? Because he’s male? Because he’s a Westerner? This also happened in Hanoi. When I walked by myself, I had fewer calls from people wanting my business. When I walked with Mark, it was nonstop.

I actually may be more of a sucker. I bought 10 bracelets for $1 from this one girl who seemed particularly deserving, in my opinion, of $1. She asked me where I was from and I said “California.” Then she proceeded to tell me how Sacramento was the capitol of California, California was in the US, Washington was the capitol of the US, Rhode Island was the smallest state, and somehow Hawaii and some other states came up as well. She was about 7 or 8. It seemed like she knew more than many 7 or 8 year-olds in the US. So that’s how she got my dollar and I got 10 bracelets. It turns out this is a sphiel that I’ve heard several of the kids use, but this girl definitely was able to produce much more information than any of the other kids. I think I actually ran into this same girl later in the day. She asked me again where I was from, and this time I said, “Where do you think I’m from?” At this point, she just left. Different girl? The girl wasn’t as clever as I had thought? The final result is that if anyone needs any bracelets, let me know!

Speaking of where I’m from, in Thailand, people would ask me where I was from. When I answered California or America, they’d all refuse to accept that answer. “No, you’re not from America!” “That’s not true.” And then they’d smile and be happy when I said I was Chinese. In Vietnam, same story. Here in Cambodia, no one has really questioned me when I said I was from California. Although, a few people here have guessed. I probably get Korean most frequently, Japanese next, and then least frequently is Chinese. Is that because there are more Korean and Japanese tourists and they’re more likely to be correct if they guess that? Or do I look Korean or Japanese? Some guy asked a question today in Mandarin and I answered in Mandarin and he seemed surprised and said, oh, you can speak Chinese. I had been speaking English before then. That’s a silly sentence, I don’t think I’d be expected to use other languages besides these two. Then he asked me if I was Korean. My own kind reject me as their own! What does that mean?

I didn’t get any mosquito bites in Vietnam and so far, none in Cambodia. Although the bugs in Cambodia are huge! One scary sight today – we saw shadows of insects on the ground – these insects were large enough to cast shadows that you could see, and there was a swarm of them. So I may get bitten sooner or later. But maybe I should have kept a tally of how many people thought I was Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Ctrl-S.